The Blue Jays officially hired John Farrell as their new manager, according to a team press release. He received a three-year deal, tweets Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. Farrell previously served as pitching coach for the Red Sox and director of player development for the Indians. He's a former pitcher, mostly with the Tribe.
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Cool. Now go trade for Colby Rasmus and sign Adam Dunn or Victor Martinez, AA.
neg on all of those unless he can get rasmus for marcum plus prospect not names zach or kyle, no need for bad fielding aging sluggers…
I’d actually welcome a 1-year deal of Adam Dunn as long as he’s DHing only. Stick him in the 4th hole and Bautista would actually be pitched to.
Too bad Dunn won’t DH and he won’t come to Toronto.
If by ‘he won’t come to Toronto’ you mean ‘he won’t play for JP Ricciardi’ then I agree. I can’t see any NL team besides the Nationals having any interest in such a lousy fielder, and I only say the Nationals because they have had him for a couple years now.
If by ‘he won’t come to Toronto’ you mean ‘he won’t play for JP Ricciardi’ then I agree. I can’t see any NL team besides the Nationals having any interest in such a lousy fielder, and I only say the Nationals because they have had him for a couple years now.
Too bad Dunn won’t DH and he won’t come to Toronto.
Why on earth would Dunn take a 1-year deal though?
V-Mart? Yuck.
Jays need a 1B…. Konerko then?
I guess only time will tell. I’m thinking Konerko will either stay with The Sox or retire (which would be a shame).
Also: Konerko qualifies as type-a… I don’t necessarily think he’d be worth the pick, unless he isn’t offered arbitration…
Great! An excellent start for 2011!
I guess this means the soap opera “All My Jays” is over.
Looking forward to 2011!
Well, if you’re still jonesing for drama, there’s always the ‘riveting’ saga of whether or not they keep Bruce Walton ;-p
I’m actually curious about what the Jays will do with Bautista. Lots of options there.
Definitely! I hope they’ll go route of cautious optimism: reward his big year but encourage him to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Two years and a couple of well-placed incentives should do it, IMO, but as you so rightly said, there are a lot of options.
Gotta love them options! 😀
Options are our friends! Last thing I’d want to see is a huge deal signed, then Bautista becomes Brady Anderson.
*shudders*
Sign him to a one-year deal with a healthy raise to reward him for his monster season and then take a look at his #’s this time next season and, if warranted, make the multi-year deal then. He’s stated he loves playing in TO, that they were the first team to really give him a full-time shot. That will be wprth some currency down the road. And at least they will have sliced a year off Wells’ ridiculous deal to ease the financial pain.
Same with Hill. Will they move him to 3rd base? Are they going to pick up all his options?
I think they will pick up all his options. They don’t have anything better right now, and they have bigger needs to possibly trade for, rather than a 2B i.e. Kemp, Rasmus.
Brad Emaus is not the answer.
I totally agree but considering how he played this year, maybe not. They can still pick up 2/3 of his options if they don’t pick up all his options after spring training and they may consider going year by year.
They’ve also been rumored to Kelly Johnson which may mean they are looking to move Hill to 3B.
I still like the idea of Hechavarria playing SS if he can pan out, move Escobar to 2B and Hill to 3B.
Aaron isn’t the power hitter he showed in 2009, nor is he the meat popsicle he showed in 2010. I like think of him as a Pedroia clone with a little more .ISO.
I think Hill 2010 season proved he can hit for power. He hit around 25 dingers and that was with him hitting around .200 and he was injured for a bit.
His power is real and if he can get back to that 09 self, that would be awesome.
I just looked at Hill’s .ISO and comparing 2010 to 2009 they’re not too far off, so perhaps Hill is capable of hitting for power. Now we just need some consistancy to getting on base.
Wouldn’t it be better to keep Hill at 2B and just move Escobar to 3B? He has a great arm that would be useful at 3B, whereas Hill’s arm would be a liability at 3B, and you’d have two guys changing positions instead of just one. Escobar has some experience at 3B anyway, but has never played 2B.
From what the TV announcers say, so I take it with a grain of salt, Hill has a very good arm. His range justifies him playing there also.
Also, 3B is stereotypically given to batters who mash. Escobar doesn’t quite fit that description.
Remember that Hill came up originally as a SS.
he even played 40 or so games at 3rd during his rookie season i think…
I totally agree but considering how he played this year, maybe not. They can still pick up 2/3 of his options if they don’t pick up all his options after spring training and they may consider going year by year.
They’ve also been rumored to Kelly Johnson which may mean they are looking to move Hill to 3B.
Same with Hill. Will they move him to 3rd base? Are they going to pick up all his options?
I think he has to keep Walton on staff–everyone else can be replaced
I think he has to keep Walton on staff–everyone else can be replaced
I was thinking “The Jays of Our Lives”.
Bah I was trying to think of one that actually fit more correctly. Kudos for coming up with that.
Darn, was hoping AA would walk into the news conference with Sandy Alomar … just so we could see the shocked reaction of the reporters
What an odd thing to say.
I have no problem with the hiring, just considering AA keeps a closed mouth about what’s going on, it would have been cool if AA had fooled the media entirely and done the unexpected thing.
Boooooooooooooooooo! Dislike. Oh well. As I said before, good pickup for the Jays. Still would have liked Sal Fasano and his AWESOME mustache.
My vote is still with Bautista for most valuable facial hair.
As I’ve quoted once before:
Jose Bautista: His organ donor card also includes his beard.
Jose Bautista’s beard and beard alone is on HGH
Is it possible to suspend a beard for 50 games?
hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha well done
My vote is still with Bautista for most valuable facial hair.
Sal’s day will come.
Toronto’s gain is Boston’s loss. It’ll be interesting to see if Curt Young becomes the Red Sox pitching coach now that he’s no longer with the A’s.
That’s a pretty solid guess…right now my money would be indeed be on Curt Young. That being said, it will be difficult to replace everything Farrell brought to the table…great baseball guy in general and he’ll be a successful manager for years.
I am really hoping that is the case. He did an amazing job with the A’s young pitching staff and can only help the Sox young pitching. And maybe help Lackey and Josh do better too.
I am really hoping that is the case. He did an amazing job with the A’s young pitching staff and can only help the Sox young pitching. And maybe help Lackey and Josh do better too.
Toronto’s gain is Boston’s loss. It’ll be interesting to see if Curt Young becomes the Red Sox pitching coach now that he’s no longer with the A’s.
An Oklahoma State guy in a Jays uniform has to be a good deal!
An Oklahoma State guy in a Jays uniform has to be a good deal!
Jays are keeping Buttefield AND Walton. Very impressed!
Yup and it also sounded like Murphy might be coming back as well.
But I’m very happy Walton and Butter are coming back!
Yup and it also sounded like Murphy might be coming back as well.
But I’m very happy Walton and Butter are coming back!
Jays are keeping Buttefield AND Walton. Very impressed!
Farrell will have fewer grey hairs not having to put up with Dice K and his nibbling every 5 days. He’s a good man hopefully he’ll make a good manager.
Did anyone else think it was kind of strange that the term of the contract wouldn’t be released? I like the logic behind it but it’s never been a big deal for teams to announce that in the past.
Bob Elliott of the Sun says it’s for 3 years.